Temper, Temper
by Wxtchy
Summary: She ran from a lot of things. Her past, her fears, and sometimes just to run. But she refused to run from this - and it turns out to be the best decision she's ever made. Nik is new to Washington and finds solace, safety, and...could it be? Yes, even love, in the arms of the ever temperamental Paul Lahote. We can't run from fate, after all. Paul/OC. Imprint story. R&R. HIATUS
1. Prologue

Temper, Temper.

Prologue

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 **Hello all and welcome! This is the first Twilight fanfiction that I've written, so any constructive criticism and reviews would be welcome. Please review and tell me what you think so that I know if I should keep this story up or just abandon it completely. I'm still writing it, so don't expect regular updates. Sorry. Not really.**

 **Anyway, I don't own anything that you recognize.**

 **Please review.**

 **Now on with the tale.**

 **-ZH**

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Hello.

My name is Nik. Or, well, my full name is Nikole Underwood, but if you call me Nikole then there will be consequences to pay. I absolutely abhor that name, seeing as how it holds bad memories for me. But maybe you'll hear all about that at a later time in this story.

I'll start off by saying that I was originally from a small town in Oklahoma, then moved around for a bit in different foster homes until I landed in good old Salem, Massachusetts, where I got adopted by a wonderful family that only had one other child, my older brother Bryan. At first, we absolutely hated each other. He felt as if I was intruding on his entire life and I felt as if I didn't belong because of this.

It all got turned around when he saved me from being bullied at school one day and from there we grew as close as siblings could get. He became my sole guardian after a car accident stole my adoptive parents from me at the age of seventeen. I'm now a grown ass woman at the age of twenty-two.

I guess that's enough background for now, so let's get on with the story, yeah?

It all started when Bryan and I were on the road to a little town in Washington, called Forks…

"Bryan, I swear to god, if you don't stop playing that incessant music, I will fucking rip your head off!" I shouted from the passenger seat of my brother's 2015 Nissan Rogue. He was well-paid with his job as a work-from-home web designer. I didn't exactly know the details of his job, but it allowed us to make the move from Salem to Forks after a particularly nasty breakup on his end. According to him, he needed to get far away from the psychotic bitch that had ruined his life and there was no way that I was going to let him go alone. He'd get himself killed by living off of instant foods that held no nutritional value.

"Hey now, don't diss my music choice! Country is perfectly acceptable!" he defended himself. I scoffed.

"Yeah, but not when it's the _only_ thing that we listen to," I retorted. He sighed and finally handed me his iPod that was hooked up to the sound system in the car. _Finally_ I would get to listen to some _good_ music on this long car ride! "How much longer until we're there, anyway?" I asked.

"GPS says about twenty minutes. We've already entered Forks, just need to find the house, now." And he was right. No more than twenty minutes later, and we were pulling up in front of a little one story house. It was a light blue on the outside, with white shutters on either side of the red door. The large front yard looked promising and had a few mature trees in it. All in all, it was very different from our two bedroom apartment back in Massachusetts.

"It's…nice," I said, a small smile on my face. "Didn't know that this Forks place would be so small, though." It made me think about how on earth I was going to get a job here. Better start soon.

"Yeah, I like it. Definitely different from good old Salem, huh?" Bryan laughed as we scrambled to get out of the car. I laughed along and agreed with him. He quickly unlocked the front door to our new house and I saw that there was already furniture inside, covered by white sheets.

"Oh! There's already furniture?" I asked my brother. He nodded and started ripping the sheets off.

"Yup. Apparently the old owners didn't want to deal with having to move everything, so they said it was included in the price of the house."

Well that helped. At least we wouldn't have to fork out the cash to buy new furniture. Sure we were well off – well, my brother was, at least – but we were still very frugal with our money. The less we had to buy, the better. I didn't know if my brother had any jobs lined up at the moment, so it was probably best for me to start looking for a job soon. Sigh.

"Hey, Bryan," I called out. He peeked out from behind the wall that divided the living room and the kitchen. "I'm going to go grocery shopping, okay? We need something other than fast food in our systems before we croak," I said. He nodded tossing me his wallet so I could pull out his credit card, after which I threw it back to him, hitting him on the head and making him cry out in fake anger. Laughing, I took the keys to the Rogue and headed out to find a grocery store.

Pushing my short, dyed black hair out of my eyes, I finally pulled into what seemed like the only grocery store in this small town. Hopping out of the Rogue and locking it behind me, I grabbed a shopping cart and began my quest! Okay, so it wasn't really much of a quest, but I absolutely hated grocery shopping and had to make _some_ fun out of it. I started at one end of the store, intending to make my way aisle by aisle and getting whatever I thought that we might need.

My cart was full and starting to get harder to push when it happened. Turning a corner, my cart bumped into someone with a crash. "Oh my god, I am so sorry!" I exclaimed. Looking up from my phone – hence why I was distracted enough to run into someone – I was met with two Adonis like figures.

They were obviously natives from the Reservation that bordered Forks. The two of them were a whole hell of a lot taller than my measly five foot three, standing no shorter than six foot five and so muscular that it seemed as if either one of them could break me in half.

"Sorry!" I said again, finally looking up to meet the most beautiful pair of chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen in my life. He was staring at me like I was the only light in his word, which was honestly kind of weird, but flattering at the same time. All of a sudden, he got this weird look on his face, as if he didn't know whether to be awed or angry, and spun around, walking off at a brisk pace. His friend, who had a giant grin on his face, turned towards me after that.

"Hey! It's all alright. Don't worry about that," he said, holding a hand out for me. "I'm Jared; are you new here?" he asked me as we shook hands. I had to refrain from flinching at the scorching heat that radiated off of him. Quickly taking my hand back, I nodded

"Yup," I responded. "Just got here today, actually. Hence all of the food." I pointed to my ridiculously full shopping cart with a sheepish grin on my face. The guy, Jared, just laughed and gestured to his own, which – dare I say it – was even more full than mine was.

"Please," he scoffed. "Try feeding a whole pack of guys." He rolled his eyes. "I don't know how Emily does it," he muttered. I raised an eyebrow, and at my silent inquiry, he said, "Oh, Emily's kind of like….like…Uh, how do I put this?" he murmured. "Surrogate mother figure?" He shrugged. "Something like that."

I just nodded, feeling nostalgic all of a sudden at the mention of family. "Well, I'd better go," I said quietly, moving to push my cart and continue shopping, list clutched tightly in my hand. Jared waved to me and also moved along.

Ugh.

Why did I have to be so emotional when it came to mothers?! I hated that part of my life with a burning, fiery passion and I had sworn to forget about it and move on. Unfortunately, my mind disagreed with that fact and refused to let it go. But then again, death can do that to a person. Of course, the death that I had had to deal with was a bit different from the norm, but still. I truly wished that I had more control over these things. I guess I had just better get better at it.

I knew that, over time, it would all fade away as I created more memories – whether they be good or bad – but the point still remained that I wanted them gone and I wanted them gone _now._ Call me impatient. It'd be true.

Sighing, I glanced at the next item on my list – eggs – and hurried to finish my shopping. Lord knows how much I wanted out of that godforsaken grocery store by this point. I abhorred grocery shopping.

After quickly dropping the groceries off at the house so that they wouldn't spoil, I left them in the care of my brother while I went to search for a job in this small, godforsaken town.

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 **TBC...Again, please review. I crave love. It's a character flaw. If I get a good response for this, next chapter will be up soon.**

 **-ZH**


	2. Chapter 1

Temper, Temper

Chapter One

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 **A/N: Hey guys, here's the second chapter. I didn't exactly get the number of reviews that I had been hoping for on the first chapter, but I finished this one today and wanted to get it out before I forgot about it. I'm experiencing some health issues right now and writing is a good way to get my mind off of things. But, don't expect the next chapter out anytime soon. I'm also taking care of my elderly grandpa and therefore don't have a lot of free time on my hands. Eheh.**

 **As always, please review!**

 **-ZH**

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Life hates me.

I think I should get that on a t-shirt or something, because it was most definitely true. Everywhere I went to look for a job had said pretty much the same thing, "I'm sorry, but we aren't looking for anyone right now." Which meant I was three hours into looking and was almost sure that I had looked absolutely everywhere by now. Sighing as I climbed into the SUV, I gave up. It was pretty obvious that I would just have to go jobless for a little bit longer, until someplace opened up or a fucking miracle happened.

As I drove past a small diner that had an 'Open' sign flashing in the window, I decided to pull over and get something to eat. Pulling in, I immediately noticed that there were almost no empty parking spaces. "Great, they must be busy," I muttered to myself as I slammed the door and locked the vehicle behind me. "Means more waiting." In a decently bad mood as I walked in, I ignored everyone around me and went straight for the closest empty seat at the little bar.

Resting my head in my hands, looking pretty defeated, I was startled when a menu was set in front of me. I heard soft, feminine laughter as I jumped and my head shot up. "Sorry, dear," an elderly, but by no means old, woman said as she smiled at me. She was beautiful, with copper skin, black hair that was just starting to grey, and deep brown eyes that looked as if they could see through to your soul. Smiling back slightly, I sighed again.

"It's alright, ma'am." I picked up the menu as I reached in my bag to see how much cash I had on me. Sure, I still had my brother's card, but I didn't like to make him spend any money on me if it could be prevented.

"Wow, pretty _and_ you have manners!" she said with a grin. Blushing slightly, I bowed me head, choosing not to comment. "What'll it be, dear?" she asked. I opened my wallet, only to find a measly three dollars in it. Shit.

"Damn it," I muttered under my breath before looking up at the waitress, who's nametag I noticed read Sue. "Uhh…Just a coffee, please," I said quietly as I handed her the menu. Shooting me a sad look, she nodded and took the menu from me. I hated being broke. When Sue came back with a standard white coffee mug and a steaming carafe of the bitter, caffeinated drink, I greeted her with a grim smile.

"Any milk or sugar?" she asked me, her hand hovering under the counter, over what I presumed was where said additives were located. Shaking my head, I brought the steaming black coffee up to my lips and took a hesitant sip. Not to sound superior or anything, but I was a bit of a coffee snob. As in, I drank it multiple times a day, every day, and could tell if it was good quality or shitty, and whether or not it had been brewed correctly. As soon as the bitter liquid hit my tongue, I knew that I would be frequenting the small diner a hell of a lot more often. Their coffee was absolutely perfect.

"Oh my god…" I muttered as I clutched the hot mug between my hands. Sue raised her eyebrows at me.

"Anything wrong with it?" she asked. I immediately shook my head furiously, almost spilling the coffee all down my shirt.

"Absolutely not!" I exclaimed. "This shit is _perfect_!" After realizing what words I had used, my face flushed slightly. Sure, I had the mouth of a sailor, but I usually tried to rein it in around elders. Respect, and all that jazz. "Err…sorry," I said sheepishly. She just laughed, her brown eyes shining with mirth and creating small crow's feet. At the sound of her laughter, my face only flushed more. I was pretty sure that I resembled a fucking tomato at that point.

"Oh, sweetheart, don't worry about watching your language around me. I have a teenage boy, who has quite a few youthful friends. I've heard it all," she told me, the crinkles by her eyes still prominent. I gave her a sheepish grin.

"Okay," I replied. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So, what brings you to my little establishment?" she asked. "I don't believe I've ever seen you around before, and not to sound pompous but almost everyone has come in here at least once!"

"Yeah," I nodded. "My brother and I just moved here. I was actually out and about job hunting," I explained, becoming morose once more. "Unfortunately, it appears that in a town this small everyplace already has all of the help that they need." I huffed, taking a large swig of coffee. Sue got a thoughtful look on her face, her hand coming up to rest on her chin in a thinking gesture. "Hence why I just ordered coffee, too. I have exactly three dollars in my wallet," I admitted. She got a shocked look on her face.

"Now, that just won't do!" she exclaimed. "I need a cheeseburger and fries, please!" she called out to the cook that was frying away in the kitchen.

"W-wait a minute! What are you doing?" I asked frantically. Sue had the audacity to _wink_ at me.

"Well, you didn't think that I would let you go hungry, would you?!"

"W-well, I mean, I don't have any money! Won't the owner be mad or something?" I inquired. She laughed.

"Honey, I _am_ the owner." Ignoring my incredulous look, she continued, "Now, hush up and eat!" she said, spinning around at the sound of a bell ringing and grabbed the plate which had a decently sized burger and a huge helping of fries on it. Setting it down in front of me, she scurried away before I could complain. Scowling to myself, I dug into my burger viciously. I had to admit, it was one of the best damn burgers I had eaten in my life. Which was saying something, seeing as how my brother and I had travelled cross country and ate at pretty much nothing but fast food joints. Sitting back, I watched as Sue flitted around the diner, making sure that her customers had everything that they needed. After her rounds were done, she came back to talk to me.

"Thank you," I said sincerely, gesturing to the food which I had practically inhaled. She grinned smugly at me.

"Not a problem dear. Now, I never got your name?"

"Oh, my name's Nik, Nik Underwood." I extended my hand after wiping it inconspicuously on my pants to get the grease off. "It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Sue Clearwater, and I have a proposition for you." Oh god. Now, I was getting kind of worried. At my raised eyebrow, she went on. "I'd like to offer you a job."

"W-what?!" I exclaimed, attracting the attention of a few people that were close by. Shooting them a look that clearly said 'Mind your own business', I turned back to Sue. "Why would you do that? I mean, you don't even know me." She shrugged.

"I can see that you'd be a hard worker and are intelligent, and that's pretty much all I need. Now, it'd be a waitressing position. Do you have any experience with that?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," I answered. "Briefly, though. It was only for a few months, and then we had to move." At my explanation, she nodded.

"Okay. Here, let me get you an application," she said, turning around and practically bouncing into a back room which I assumed was her office. She quickly came back with a sheet of paper in her hand. "Fill this out so that we can do this legally, and just give it back to me whenever you can, okay?"

"Uh huh," I said quietly, still a little bit shocked at what had just happened. "Of course." Smiling at me, Sue patted my hand and walked away, having more customers to attend to.

I shoved the application into my bag after folding it up so that it wouldn't get too wrinkled while simultaneously digging my car keys out. Jumping off of the bar stool that I had been sitting on, I waved and called out a goodbye to a busy Sue as I exited the diner.

Well damn. That had been easier than I thought. Now, if only I could remember the way back to the house…

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 **A/N: Pleasseeeeee review. At least tell me if you like it? I'm still not sure...**

 **-ZH.**


	3. Chapter 2

Temper, Temper

Chapter Two

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 **A/N:** Hey guys. Long time no see. Well, a lot has gone on since my last update. My grandpa passed away, and I moved back to my old state, unfortunately. I've also been having some family issues, so there's that as well. Sorry for not updating, but hopefully the next one won't take such a long time!

Anyways, please read and tell me what you think! I'd really like to get some more **reviews**. Hint, hint.

- **ZH**

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As it turns out, I didn't have to worry all that much about finding my way back home. I quickly found out that the small town of Forks was easy to manage as long as you knew which general direction you were supposed to be headed. Of course, it helped that the town was so, well…tiny. Coming all the way from Massachusetts, a town this small was definitely something new for me. I wasn't complaining, though. I actually quite liked it. There wasn't a shit ton of traffic like back home, for one, which made me extremely happy. I fucking hated traffic. That may or may not be because I have a mean case of road rage…But I refuse to admit anything.

Pulling into my driveway, I quickly hopped out of the car and slammed the door behind me. Although I hadn't really done much that day, I was tired. New places always took a lot out of me at first. Especially this time, after what had happened…

I sighed, shaking my head from those abhorred thoughts and walked into the house, making sure to shoulder the door shut behind me. Apparently, it was kind of temperamental. Or at least, that's what Bryan told me through his laughter as he watched me struggle with it.

"Oh, shut up!" I sneered at him. He only laughed harder, leaning against the wall.

"So, how did job hunting go, sis?" he asked, moving towards me. Accepting his hug, I grinned up at him.

"It went pretty well, after the first few hours," I laughed. As I told him what had happened at the diner with Sue, he smiled approvingly at me.

"I knew you could do it!" he said as he ruffled my hair annoyingly. Huffing, I quickly straightened it out. Well, as much as it could be straightened out, that is. My hair was pretty wild on a good day. As for the bad days, well…I don't want to talk about it.

"Yeah, all I gotta do is fill out the application and then bring it back to her. Which I'll probably do around the same time tomorrow, cause I didn't exactly get a look at the working hours of the place, eheh…" Ignoring the exasperated look my older brother sent me, I shouldered past him and into the kitchen. "So, what are you cooking for dinner?" I asked, completely ignoring the cries of complaint coming from him.

True to my word, I had filled out the application to Sue's diner the night that I got it, and the next day I found myself parked in front of the place, preparing myself to go in and hand it in. Granted, I wasn't what you could call _nervous_ , per se, it was more along the lines of…apprehensive? Yeah, we'll go with apprehensive. I didn't know any of the other workers there, and I had only met the owner and presumably my boss briefly. Who the hell knows what kind of working environment it would be? That is, if the offer was even still on the table.

Sighing, I pushed back all thoughts of negativity and strolled into the place, immediately looking around for the owner. Not wanting to just stand there and look like a total idiot, I made my way to the counter and sat in the same seat as I had the day before. The place was busy, but not as packed as it had been yesterday.

It wasn't a moment after I sat down that I heard a commotion coming from one of the booths in the far corner of the small diner. Curiosity peaked, I turned my head to glance over.

Sitting there, looking a little bit squished, were the two guys that I had run into at the grocery store. The hot but strange one who had run away almost immediately after seeing me was staring, eyes wide, in my direction. The other one, his name started with a 'J' I think, was poking at his friend incessantly, while a few other people, all also impeccably built and good looking – just _what_ did these people eat? – were all talking at once to the poor guy. Finally, one of them, a guy that was a little taller than the others, a little more built, with an air of authority surrounding him, turned to look in the direction that the gorgeous one was looking in. Which, in case you were wondering, made him look right at me.

I quickly looked away as soon as he made eye contact, and it was perfect timing because a waitress handed me a menu at that moment. However, it was impossible to tune out the wondrous cry of " _No_ " that rang through the diner from the table. It, obviously, attracted the attention of most everybody, including myself.

The table in the spotlight seemed oblivious to the commotion that they caused. Everyone at the table was looking at the weird guy with a look of pure shock. An angry look came across his face as he nodded, almost regretfully. Making myself turn back to the waitress and ignore the rowdy bunch, I quickly ordered a coffee again. I could definitely see myself getting addicted to the stuff. It was simply amazing.

"Oh!" I cried out, making the waitress turn back to me. "Is Sue here, by the way?" I asked. Smiling at me, she nodded and said that she would go get her for me. Nodding my head in thanks, I pulled my phone out of my hoodie pocket in order to have something to pass the time with as I waited.

Scrolling through my Facebook feed, I ignored all of the messages in my inbox and comments on my statuses that asked where the hell I was or what the hell happened. Scowling at certain comments, I quickly exited the app and set my phone down on the counter, followed quickly by my head, creating a thud.

"Now, now, what could be wrong this time, dear?" a fairly familiar voice asked me. Lifting my head up, I came face to face with the person I came here to see.

"Hey there, Sue." I smiled at her. She quickly returned it. "I have that application you gave me," I said, reaching into my bag and drawing out the crisply folded piece of paper. Grinning at me, she took it and quickly looked through it, pausing a few times to read certain things.

"Everything looks to be in order!" she said happily. "Oh and look, you've moved into the old house right past the border!" At my inquiring look, she elaborated. "That old house has been on the market for ages. Not many people moving into the little town of Forks, y'know?" She sighed. I laughed lightly and nodded.

"Haha, yeah I hear ya. Honestly when Bryan told me that we'd be moving to a place called Forks I thought he had gone insane," I laughed. At her confused look, I went on to say, "Oh, Bryan is my brother. We moved here together."

"Oooh, I see, I see. You'll have to bring him by some time so I can meet him!" Sue said. She looked so happy at the thought of meeting my family that it caused a deep seated ache to start in my chest. I wonder what it would be like, to have her as a mother. I quickly shook that thought away.

"I'll be sure to do that."

"Okay, well, why don't we go back into my office here and we'll discuss things like pay and hours, how does that sound?" she asked. Quickly downing the rest of my coffee and ignoring the slight burn it caused in my throat, I agreed. I hopped down from the bar stool and followed her back to wherever her office was.

We quickly came to an agreement with my pay and hours – which we had a little argument over. She was pretty against me working the hours that I wanted to work, but we finally agreed on me working from opening to closing – a grand total of twelve hours – four days a week. It was a little more than the usual forty hour work week, but not by much, and it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. I've definitely worked at less glamorous jobs, that's for damn sure! Plus, I could definitely use the money.

Like I had mentioned, we had a little bit saved up from our jobs back home, but with the buying of a house and the money we used to get to Forks, our supply was quickly dwindling. And I didn't want to have to mooch off of my brother every time I wanted to buy something, either.

Signing all of the papers I had to sign, I was told to show up bright and early the next day. Secretly dreading the thought of getting up at the ass crack of dawn, I shook hands with Sue and went back to the counter, just wanting to sit and relax for a moment. It felt really nice, to have a job – especially so soon after arriving in the small town.

I definitely could get used to an easy life like this. But, we'll just see where it takes me, yeah?


End file.
